For Immediate Release
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
April 19, 2004
Secretary Ridge Discusses Homeland Security in Las Vegas
***PREPARED FOR DELIVERY*** REMARKS BY SECRETARY TOM RIDGE
AT THE JOINT SESSION OF THE RADIO & TELEVISION NEWS DIRECTORS
AND NETWORK BROADCASTERS ASSOCIATIONS OPENING SESSION
(Las Vegas, NV) Apr. 19, 2004 - SECRETARY RIDGE: Thank you. Every
single day since September 11, 2001, you have kept America informed
about this centurys greatest threat to the world community. Whether
getting ready for work, going to school or just tuning into a favorite
broadcaster any hour of the day, America has listened and learned about
international terrorism from you.
America now knows some of the terrorists by name but still cannot
comprehend such evil motives. We are repulsed by their savage methods
and painfully aware of their innocent victims.
Throughout America and around the world, youve also reported the
clear and collective resolve of people who value freedom over fear
security over senseless destruction. We have sent the terrorists a
clear and unmistakable message you are not freedom fighters; you are
murderers, civilizations collective shame. On this issue, the world
has come together and the world is coming after you.
And, as the eyes and ears of democracy, you often find yourself on
the front lines of this fight. As Barbara Cochran has so wisely noted,
Journalists, like police and firefighters, rush toward danger, not away
from it. You play a critical and special role in free societies.
In an earlier era, Alexis de Tocqueville said the press in America
does not just guarantee liberty; it maintains civilization. Today, in
an era of 24-hour satellite coverage and instant Internet
communication, that is no less true. But there are few existing
blueprints for covering terrorism,
How do we inform the public without alarming them? Can we make
people aware of the terrorist threat and, at the same time, empower
them to prepare for it? It is a challenge we face at the Department of
Homeland Security every day. I suspect its a challenge you face in
your newsrooms as well.
We again saw the damage wrought by those who make loss of life
their number one goal one month ago in Madrid. Terrorists struck
innocent people only days before the free and democratic elections in
Spain.
In this country, we soon enter a season that is rich with symbolic
opportunities for the terrorists to try to shake our will. Americans
will dedicate the World War II Memorial in Washington; host
International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington, D.C. and the G-8
Summit in Georgia; celebrate Independence Day; travel to Athens for the
Olympics; hold political conventions in Boston and New York; followed,
of course, by our own elections, the traditional holidays and inaugural
in 2005.
The terrorists are resolute, but we are more so. They plan and
prepare -- and so must we. At this time we do not have specific,
credible threat information around any of these events. But we do have
common sense. And, we dont need a change in the threat level to
improve security.
With so many symbolic gatherings in the next few months, we must be
aggressive. These targets of opportunity for the terrorists are
opportunities that cant be missed to tighten our security. We will
increase our vigilance, accelerate the reduction of our
vulnerabilities, and enhance our response capabilities so that they are
poised and ready. Theres a lot going on around the country already.
And wherever possible, we will ratchet it up.
Special attention will be given to areas of concern such as rail
and air security, hazardous materials shipments, chemical facilities,
and protection of the electrical grid, among others.
The Department of Homeland Security will lead a working group of
federal agencies that will oversee this effort. This group will reach
out to mayors, Governors and officials at every level of government, as
well as the private sector.
The coordination forged among Homeland Security professionals in
the last two and a half years has created a force multiplier to protect
communities countrywide. This force works to improve the protection of
our nation every day.
The bottom line is that homeland security is not about one
Department, one level of government or one organization. It is a
national call to action, a philosophy of shared responsibility, shared
accountability, and shared leadership.
When the terrorist threat is directed at an entire nation, only an
entire nation, working in close cooperation, can deter that threat.
That same spirit of integration has guided the Media Security and
Reliability Council. Your industrys leadership has produced some very
sound recommendations that will help secure your facilities and
infrastructure and ensure the continuous flow of information to the
public in times of crisis.
The significance of this effort is that it is industry-driven, taps
into the unique expertise that only you can provide. And that is the
example we encourage the private sector as a whole to follow. The
department looks forward to working with the Council as you implement
and build on your recommendations.
Like your organizations, we constantly review our emergency
response procedures to strengthen them. And, we run and participate in
training exercises at all levels of government to find the gaps and
plug them.
Many of you followed TOPOFF II, the largest terrorist exercise in
American history, involving the simulated explosion of a radiological
device in Seattle, and a simulated outbreak of pneumonic plague around
Chicago.
One of the important reminders from TOPOFF II was that effective
communication is the linchpin for efficient performance. As part of
the drill, we formed a Video News Network to engage our crisis
communication team. Our After-Action report noted that A consistent
message to the public from incident command and the public health and
medical communities is critical.
We have many initiatives underway to ensure that timely, accurate
information is communicated during a crisis. Among these programs, we
will partner with the National Academies of Science and the Radio and
Television News Directors Foundation to co-host 10 regional exercises
that will bring together members of the media and government public
information officers. The goal of these sessions is to strengthen our
emergency capabilities.
It has been 13 months since the creation of the Department of
Homeland Security. In a sense, DHS became the largest IPO ever on March
1, 2003. We became a public sector offering staked in the security of
our country and, as such, everyone in the country, and the world,
having a stake in its success.
Perhaps one of the greatest challenges of our first year was that
we had to not only get the department up and running operationally --
meaning consolidate systems, integrate servers, and get a stapler on
every desk.
But, also and foremost, we had to strengthen and extend the depth
and breadth of our nations protective measures, particularly at our
airports, seaports and borders. We unified the border inspection
process, presenting one face at the border, which improved employee
morale and service and reduced delays.
And after languishing for decades, a nationwide biometrics-based
entry-exit visa check system is now reality after just eight months.
Today, US-VISIT is stopping criminals and violators in their tracks at
our air and seaports while allowing legitimate travelers and visitors
to cross with little or no delay. Furthermore, by judging people based
on their individual behavior and record, we can reduce our reliance on
more arbitrary and unfair standards, such as nationality.
We improved aviation security from the curb to the cockpit by
hiring and training tens of thousands of screeners on the ground,
deploying thousands of federal air marshals in the skies, tightening
security for air cargo and securing all cockpit doors.
On the seas, we made major improvements as well. We expanded our
Container Security Initiative, or CSI. As I speak, U.S. inspectors are
in Rotterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong and more than a dozen more ports of
trade, working to inspect and label cargo long before it reaches
American shores. Its part of our layered approach to improving the
security of Americans.
We also created a powerful two-way flow of information with our
state, local and tribal partners, through secure videoconferencing,
expanded security clearances and the shared language of the Homeland
Security Advisory System. It paid off last year as we improved our
collective response to wildfires, hurricanes and the blackout. It paid
off once again in December as our nation went to high alert status and
we acted in a highly coordinated fashion to deter the threat.
While much work remains to be done, I can confidently state that as
a nation we are more secure and far better prepared today than we were
two years ago.
This year we will build on that progress. We will challenge
ourselves and our partners to take their commitment and already
extraordinary efforts to the next level so we can further expand and
push a vast agenda for a truly integrated homeland security effort so
that we can lay the foundation of homeland security for future years.
With each priority we set, I have added a call to action to our
employees, our citizens and our partners in the public and private
sector to work with us to achieve these goals.
Specifically, the Department will work to strengthen vertical
communication systems and significantly increase protections around our
nations most vital assets our bridges and water supplies,
telecommunications and cyber-systems, chemical and nuclear facilities,
hospitals and laboratories, food processing systems and more.
We will establish secure, real-time communications between all 50
states and the territories, install secure videoconferencing to all
Governors offices, and identify technical specifications to establish
baseline interoperability of communications for first responders.
We will also expand our nationwide citizen preparedness initiative,
the Ready campaign, which launched last year in partnership with the
Advertising Council. We thank those stations who ran the public service
announcements, and I am pleased to report that thousands of Americans
have responded and taken the steps to prepare themselves and their
families for an emergency.
During the next year, we will expand the existing campaign by
launching two new citizen preparedness endeavors: Ready for Business
and Ready for School.
Our goal is that at least half of all Americans will take the steps
to be better prepared by the end of 2004.
We will also by years end create a unified, national critical
infrastructure database to identify vulnerabilities so we may better
secure our symbols of freedom and the vast, complex systems that power
them. We seek real-time, situational awareness across both physical
borders and agency boundaries, in all directions, both vertically and
horizontally. We will do everything we can to keep the American
economy strong and the American way of life intact.
We are not in the business of protecting our freedom only to
forsake it. Our vision statement reflects our emphasis: Preserving
our freedoms, protecting America.we secure our homeland. After all,
the terrorists have targeted both our people and our way of life.
Our mission goes beyond preventing terrorist attacks and securing
our borders and ports. It includes welcoming lawful immigrants and
visitors and promoting the free flow of commerce. And, as one of
freedoms greatest champions, the news media the producers and writers
and reporters in this room -- will always have a vital role to play.
The threat remains very real even if other issues may temporarily
eclipse it in the public mind. At those times your reporting becomes
more important, not less.
Abraham Lincoln once said that our government rests in public
opinion.
By informing the public and asking insightful questions of its
leaders, the media shapes and molds public opinion. Sometimes
politicians complain about it. But it is vital to a functioning and
fully aware democracy.
What motivates you motivates us the desire to never again have to
report a catastrophe such as we experienced on September 11, 2001. As
an open, welcoming nation, we recognize that we can never be 100
percent secure against terrorist attacks. But we will never succumb to
despair. There is the old maxim: strength in numbers. And if there
is any lesson we learned from 9-11, it is that freedoms greatest
companion is fellowship, unity the integration of a nation everyone
pledged to freedoms cause, everyone its protector.
We are anything but powerless against the threat. On the contrary,
if we act together, we will be empowered to overcome it. Together, you
and I, in our very different roles, will work to inform and educate our
fellow citizens and ourselves and to strengthen this fellowship, this
nation, this idea we call the United States of America.
Thank you.
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